Sheet metal cutting service

Shame SendCutSend don't operate over here, I see the following recommended, but have never used any of them ...

Hmm, as a test I drew up a simple 67 x 119mm rectangle with a couple of holes in it. For any of aluminium, galvanised and carbon steel in a variety of thicknesses they want £65 and it takes 16 working days.

I can't get PCBway or JLCCNC to quote for it without a STEP file (LibreCAD wouldn't make one as it's only 2D CAD), but SendCutSend quotes $4-10 depending on material. OK so US shipping is $22 but it's free if the order is above $35.

That doesn't even have an 'ask for a quote' button, just a 'contact us' form. I suspect if they're not set up for automated quoting they don't have the volume to make it cost efficient.

Theo

Ouch.

I've stopped my Sketchup subscription now and FreeCAD seems to have come on leaps and bounds from v0.22 to v1.0 to v1.1rc2, I'm probably crap at it but got a couple of things to design for printing.

Not bad, I notice SuperFastMatt uses them at every opportunity.

It seems to be a bit better if you add multiple units and parts - the price stays at £65 for a bit, then starts heading towards £100. ie there's a certain minimum cost for which you can get more than one part, but not a lot.

Yep, I normally use FreeCAD for 3D stuff, but I thought they wanted 2D .dxfs. Turns out .step is better, even for sheet metal. (they also do bending, which might be why)

A similar yet different piece of 1mm flat metal drawn in FreeCAD to make the .step comes in at about $2.20 in steel (stainless, galv or normal) plus $6

If I bump the size up to 500x500mm the part is now $9 at JLC but shipping is now $42. It's still £65 at Fractory, and $40-80 inc post at SendCutSend (plus transatlantic package forwarding fees as they don't ship to the UK).

Long delivery times can be mitigated a bit by using 3D printed parts for mockups - ie design and print, tweak everything until it fits, then order metal parts to replace plastic ones.

It's not bad value if they're on your doorstep. But for us, if we're going to order from the US we can equally order from China, where the delivery pipeline is much more well oiled.

Theo

That has absolutely been my experience with PCBs. Cheap and low shipping cost an less than 10 days turnround typically.

-- “People believe certain stories because everyone important tells them, and people tell those stories because everyone important believes them. Indeed, when a conventional wisdom is at its fullest strength, one’s agreement with that conventional wisdom becomes almost a litmus test of one’s suitability to be taken seriously.”

Paul Krugman